EDITORIAL: White roses and thorns

WHITE ROSES: To the West York Area High School Bulldogs for winning their first state baseball championship last weekend. What a great year for the team!

ROSES: To Leadership York for creating well-informed, involved community leaders. A recent story focused on a number of alumni of the program and how it fostered their community involvement. About 85 percent of alumni are volunteering with at least one local program. Keep up the great work, Leadership York.

ROSES: To Greg Halpin for being named deputy chief for the York city fire department.

THORNS: To whoever reportedly attacked and tried to rob Mark Bashore when he stopped to help what he thought was a stranded motorist June 7 on Red Hill Road near Hanover. Instead, he said, he was struck from behind and beaten. He fought back and the attackers fled.

THORNS: To vandals who damaged the carousel building at Brookside Park in Dover Township. It was the fourth time the reconstructed building had been damaged. Police said they charged four unidentified Dover township teens with vandalism at the building.

ROSES: To all the winners and all the participants in the York County Senior Games held locally last week. Roses to the organizers of this fun event, too.

ROSES: To District Attorney Tom Kearney for clearing York Police Officer Michael Fissel in a police shooting. He was being dragged by a drug suspect's car when he shot the driver in the leg. That sounds justifiable.

ROSES: To county officials and local senior centers for providing cooling stations for people trying to beat the heat this week. The high temperatures and humidity can be dangerous for some people -- especially those without air conditioning. Don't hesitate to use these cooling stations this summer if you need some relief.

ROSES: To Ron Dyer for being named the new superintendent of the Dallastown Area School District.

ROSES: To Brian E. Ellis and Christopher Adams for being appointed, respectively, the new principal and assistant principal at York Suburban High School.

THORNS: To news that efforts to privatize the state's liquor stores have been put on hold until at least the fall -- and perhaps next year.

ROSES: To Northeastern school officials for approving $10,000 to buy surveillance cameras for buses that were missing the cameras or had broken cameras. It was about a year ago that a 7-year-old district student was left on a school bus for five hours in 80 degree weather after he fell asleep on the way to school.